The Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act (HABHRCA)

The Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2014 (also known as HABHRCA) requires the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and EPA to advance the scientific understanding and ability to detect, monitor, assess, and predict HAB and hypoxia events in marine and freshwater in the U.S. The act also requires maintaining and enhancing a national program to control and mitigate HAB and hypoxia events, delineates the role of the Task Force (Interagency Working Group or IWG), and developing reports and plans to reduce the likelihood of HABs formation and mitigate their damage. A recent amendment (HABHRCA of 2017) provide EPA with the statutory authority to determining if a harmful algal bloom (HAB) or hypoxia event in freshwater is an “event of national significance.”

On September 16, 2019, EPA published in the Federal Register (EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0463-0001) a Notice of Intent requesting public comments to inform the development of an agency Policy on the Determination of a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) and Hypoxia as an Event of National Significance in Freshwater Systems. The comment period closed on October 31, 2019. EPA received over two hundred individual sets of comments and is currently utilizing the input received to develop the policy.